The "realism" argument is similarly baffling. Unless players interested in this change genuinely desire realism across the board (reduce carry weight and health by 80%, make radiation damage virtually impossible to remove, etc.) I perceive it as a disingenuous argument. The genuine argument almost always comes down to, "I want to open locks but I don't want to spend points on Lockpick."
JE Sawyer making a stupid strawman argument.
I like this type of "realism" even in a high fantasy world. It's usually called internal logics and physics.
To me, it isn't just about realism though. It's about being able to interact with the same gameplay elements in multiple ways. For example, in Fallout 2, I could blow some (all?) doors open with dynamite. That was fucking awesome. Or, I could use my steal skill to plant dynamite in someone's inventory and blow them up. That was also fucking awesome.
I want to be able to STEAL a KEY from someone's inventory and UNLOCK the chest/door.
I want to be able to SNEAK across a room, STEAL a KEY from a drawer, and then UNLOCK the chest/door.
I want to be able to BASH the chest/door open.
I want to be able to DISINTEGRATE the chest/door.
I want to be able to BLAST the chest open with a SPELL.
I want to be able to KILL someone, LOOT the KEY and then UNLOCK the chest/door.
I want to be able to CONVINCE, THREATEN or BLACKMAIL someone into procuring the KEY for me.
I want to be able to TELEPORT my mage on the other side of the door.
Reducing non-combat gameplay to "either you have X ranks in a skill and get the goodies, or you don't have enough ranks and you don't get the goodies" is just absolutely fucking boring. Then, everyone will invest in the skill, and EVERYONE will get the goodies in the EXACT same way, ALL THE TIME! What the fuck is fun or interesting about that? Let people INTERACT with the gameworld in MULTIPLE ways. If Sawyer thinks this is just about people wanting to open chests and doors without investing in lockpicking then he is an absolute fucking idiot.
Now what about consequences?
* If your mage teleports across a door alone, perhaps he has to face an enemy all by himself. Perhaps he teleports himself in the middle of a wall and it's instadeath for him. Perhaps he teleports into a trap or ambush. Or a non magic zone and he can no longer teleport back out, and the door is locked on both sides. Now you need to find some other solution since the room not only contains the loot, but also your mage!
* Fireball a chest? Perhaps certain vulnerable items like potions and scrolls are lost, only armor and weapons survive but with reduced durability. (I'm not in favor of random loot destruction, I'd rather have some basic principle applied evenly.)
* Disintegrate a chest? Now everything disintegrates together with it. But MAYBE you were on a mission to destroy some evidence in the chest, so disintegrate is a perfectly viable solution in that situation.
* Threaten someone into getting the key? Maybe you fail the check, and he calls the guards instead.
* Bash the chest open? Perhaps you smash the potions inside too. Often maybe you're not strong enough to bash a reinforced lock. Maybe the lock is magically warded against physical attacks (this is a fucking fantasy game after all, make use of it to enhance C&C). Maybe you blow your party's cover.
Of course a lot of these are dependent on location specific scripts and design. But a simpler formula that can be applied across the game for chests and other containers would be:
Disintegrate (If such a spell is in the game - I don't actually like the idea of instakill spells, but if your putting it in, let us use it to interact with the gameworld, not just combat) - Destroys Everything
Fireball and other Energy spells - Smashes potions, burns scrolls, reduces equipment durability by 20% (Now you need to purchase some supplies and use your REPAIR skill to fix them up). May require multiple castings to blow open the lock, you waste your spells. Also some locks are warded against magic.
Bash - Smashes potions, chance of chopping the scrolls, requires high STR, doesn't work on reinforced locks.
Lockpick - Ideal solution, requires points invested in the skill.
Removing other options in order to make lockpicking useful is just idiotic and just shows that these guys at Obsidian are just lazy bastards reducing gameplay elements to the bare minimum. Instead, the designers should look into putting as MANY options as possible, and then implement consequences to using those options.
This is stupid.
